For Sale To The Highest Bidder Luxury House Going On Block For Symphony

January 25, 1986|By Jack Snyder of The Sentinel Staff

A luxury home overlooking Lake Minnehaha in Clermont in south Lake County is being built for an auction in March to raise money for the Florida Symphony Orchestra.

This is the third time the Orlando-based orchestra has auctioned a new home to raise funds.

The project should prove to be a major fund-raiser for the orchestra, depending on how much time, labor and materials are donated or offered at reduced costs, said Orlando builder William Segal, who is donating his company's services to construct the 2,000-plus-square-foot, three-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath house.

''If expectations of contributions are realized and the home brings what it is certainly worth, we could earn $50,000, all of which will go to the symphony,'' Segal said.

Orlando attorney Jerome J. Bornstein, one of the orchestra's original subscribers and a former member of the group's board of directors, donated a lot in Amber Hill, a 45-acre subdivision on the south shore of Lake Minnehaha off U.S. 27, for the house.

The lot includes community lakefront privileges and use of a community dock.

Bornstein's family owned the property for more than 50 years.

The new symphony house was designed by Ray Scott and Associates, an Orlando architectural company. Construction financing was arranged by Barnett Bank.

Architect Ray Scott said the architecture of the house is a mix of contemporary and traditional. The floor plan is definitely traditional, focusing on the needs of the family, he said.

The house was designed L-shaped on the lot to give every room in the house a view of the lake. As might be expected, the house has quite a bit of glass and extensive decking facing the lake to capitalize on the view, he said.

The architect said a lot of attention was given to the master bath which features high volume ceilings and a lot of light.

Scott said the challenge was to create an appealing house but to stay within a reasonable price range so the house could sell quickly.

The combination of a location with a panoramic lake view and a strong architectural home design should produce a great auction, Bornstein said.

Builder Segal said the house is in the framing stage of construction. He is still soliciting donations of building materials and services.

The house, expected to sell for around $160,000, will be auctioned March 15.

''The weather hasn't been too cooperative, but we should be finished before then,'' Segal said.

Segal built the first symphony house in 1981 in Wekiva, a subdivision in south Seminole County.

The second house was built in 1983 in Sweetwater Oaks, also in south Seminole County, by R.L. Peatross and Hueber Inc.

That latter effort was launched with what might have been a first in construction -- a musical ground-breaking. Orchestra members provided a musical accompaniment to the ceremonial dirt tossing that kicked off the work. Both projects were successful, with more than $20,000 raised for the symphony in both auctions, said Sandra Kulmann, director of marketing and communications for the orchestra.

The house auctions haven't been held every year because of fluctuating marketing conditions, she said.

And, the first order of business before the projects can be undertaken is to get a suitable lot donated for the house, she noted.

Others have used the house auction route to raise money. In 1983, a home built by Residential Communities of America at its Hidden Lake subdivision at Sanford was auctioned to benefit the Central Florida Zoological Park.

The home builders, suppliers and subcontractors donated time and materials, or provided them at reduced costs to provide as large a sum as possible for the zoo, which received $40,000 from the auction.